The car was found in a gravel lot near the Paris Pike exit, KSP said. A K-9 unit was brought to the scene, but there was no sign of Jones or Warner.

KSP said Friday afternoon that Pennington, 52, of Springfield, is facing two counts of murder in connection with the pair's disappearance.

Police said the investigation revealed evidence that the couple is dead, but their remains have not been recovered.

"Without bodies, we can't make any kind of arrangements for nothing,” said Bryan Reeve, Warner’s stepfather. “Most of the family knows. It's been announced that there is a murder, so we're getting a lot of calls and texts and all this stuff from family and friends and, you know, everybody else."

Those who knew the couple said they were hard not to like.

"You could tell people kind of gravitated towards her,” said Chris Lemmel, Warner’s former trainer. “She just had a great personality. She was just fun."

"Everyone's feeling this. You kind of see this happen, and you think it's never going to happen to our group or in our community, and when it does, it's just everyone trying to pull together," said Lemmel.